Maggie Lee started out as a backstage tech and "panda wrangler" for the Pork Filled Players
in 2004, but these days she's better known in Seattle as a playwright
whose work ranges from horror adaptations to romantic comedies.
You always list yourself as a "panda wrangler" for PFP. What inspired that title?
The panda wrangling started when I wrote a sketch called "Panda: Hostage Negotiator" for one of our shows. There was some doubt as to how it would work, since we couldn't afford a whole panda costume or even a decent mask. So I said, "I wrote the darned thing, I'll take care of the panda." I went home and built a panda head out of an old baseball cap, a pair of tights, and some fur.
It turned out to be a big hit, and now "Panda" is a reoccurring character we bring back in different sketches.
For Porktacular!, what were some of the stories that you wanted to explore with PFP?
It turned out that our cast for this show was going to be mostly women, so we really challenged ourselves this time to write sketches tailored to female performers. In the sketch comedy, it's more common for groups to be all guys or mostly all guys. We wanted to be sure that our show grabbed this golden opportunity to really showcase our funny ladies. And not in a way that only had "girl humor" about our periods or whatnot (and turning off all the men in the audience!) but our own quirky, geeky brand of humor that that everyone could enjoy.
And what inspired the title?
We have been running our Spam-o-Rama cabaret for a couple of years now, which we try to put up on quarterly basis. It's been so fun getting different local acts involved, including jazz singers, improv groups, and even a sword swallower! It seemed like a fun idea to come up with a show loosely inspired by the old vaudevillian theater, with a little bit of every kind of act.
If somebody has never seen PFP before, what would you say to them to get them to check out Porktacular!?
Sometimes the fact that we are an Asian American group gives the wrong impression to people, like they think if they aren't Asian American, they won't get the jokes. But I think the key is that our group is Asian American AND we do comedy - not only just comedy for Asian Americans. I love the fact that our group uses our own original flavor of comedy to break that stereotype of what you might think "typical" Asian American humor is. So give us a try, and I think we'll surprise you!
At Open Circle Theatre, you wrote some fantastic scripts based on H.P. Lovecraft's horror stories. What attracted you to that material?
I've been a Lovecraft fan ever since high school. Open Circle Theater used to have an annual Lovecraft show around Halloween, and I was really lucky to have the opportunity to write for them. What makes it so intriguing to me is that in Lovecraftian stories, the horror is always something so terrifying that it can't be described. What a fun challenge to make theater based on something so horrible it can't be shown! So it's all about building up the suspense and the tension in the characters, rather than the actual monster itself.
For you, what's easier to write: comedy or horror?
Hands down, comedy is the hardest thing to write. I think it's because everyone's sense of humor is so different and personal, so trying to write a sketch that appeals to a broad audience, yet is still new and original, and also reflects your own personal style. That's a lot of pressure. And also, when a joke bombs, there's just no way around it. There's nothing more soul-crushing than hearing dead silence during one of your sketches.
Can you tell us a little about your work in the upcoming Local Playwrights' Showcase at ACT?
I'll be representing SIS Productions with a staged reading of a scene from my latest play "The Tumbleweed Zephyr." It's about two brothers on a train, set in an Old West science fiction world, with influences of steampunk. It's such an honor to be included in the event with so many other wonderful multicultural playwrights. And I really love it that this event can even include a sci-fi play, which shows how truly diverse playwrights of color can be!
For Asian-American women interested in telling their stories in the theater, what advice would you give?
Try to go out and see a lot of different shows. It really teaches you about what works on stage and what doesn't. A play is very different than a book or short story, and it helps to see it visually unfold before you rather than just reading it on the page. Or even better, try to help make theater by volunteering with a local group. Just knowing how it all comes together backstage and helping to be a part of that magical process is one of the biggest inspirations for writing plays.
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| Photo by Robert Tang |
The panda wrangling started when I wrote a sketch called "Panda: Hostage Negotiator" for one of our shows. There was some doubt as to how it would work, since we couldn't afford a whole panda costume or even a decent mask. So I said, "I wrote the darned thing, I'll take care of the panda." I went home and built a panda head out of an old baseball cap, a pair of tights, and some fur.
It turned out to be a big hit, and now "Panda" is a reoccurring character we bring back in different sketches.
For Porktacular!, what were some of the stories that you wanted to explore with PFP?
It turned out that our cast for this show was going to be mostly women, so we really challenged ourselves this time to write sketches tailored to female performers. In the sketch comedy, it's more common for groups to be all guys or mostly all guys. We wanted to be sure that our show grabbed this golden opportunity to really showcase our funny ladies. And not in a way that only had "girl humor" about our periods or whatnot (and turning off all the men in the audience!) but our own quirky, geeky brand of humor that that everyone could enjoy.
And what inspired the title?
We have been running our Spam-o-Rama cabaret for a couple of years now, which we try to put up on quarterly basis. It's been so fun getting different local acts involved, including jazz singers, improv groups, and even a sword swallower! It seemed like a fun idea to come up with a show loosely inspired by the old vaudevillian theater, with a little bit of every kind of act.
If somebody has never seen PFP before, what would you say to them to get them to check out Porktacular!?
Sometimes the fact that we are an Asian American group gives the wrong impression to people, like they think if they aren't Asian American, they won't get the jokes. But I think the key is that our group is Asian American AND we do comedy - not only just comedy for Asian Americans. I love the fact that our group uses our own original flavor of comedy to break that stereotype of what you might think "typical" Asian American humor is. So give us a try, and I think we'll surprise you!
At Open Circle Theatre, you wrote some fantastic scripts based on H.P. Lovecraft's horror stories. What attracted you to that material?
I've been a Lovecraft fan ever since high school. Open Circle Theater used to have an annual Lovecraft show around Halloween, and I was really lucky to have the opportunity to write for them. What makes it so intriguing to me is that in Lovecraftian stories, the horror is always something so terrifying that it can't be described. What a fun challenge to make theater based on something so horrible it can't be shown! So it's all about building up the suspense and the tension in the characters, rather than the actual monster itself.
For you, what's easier to write: comedy or horror?
Hands down, comedy is the hardest thing to write. I think it's because everyone's sense of humor is so different and personal, so trying to write a sketch that appeals to a broad audience, yet is still new and original, and also reflects your own personal style. That's a lot of pressure. And also, when a joke bombs, there's just no way around it. There's nothing more soul-crushing than hearing dead silence during one of your sketches.
Can you tell us a little about your work in the upcoming Local Playwrights' Showcase at ACT?
I'll be representing SIS Productions with a staged reading of a scene from my latest play "The Tumbleweed Zephyr." It's about two brothers on a train, set in an Old West science fiction world, with influences of steampunk. It's such an honor to be included in the event with so many other wonderful multicultural playwrights. And I really love it that this event can even include a sci-fi play, which shows how truly diverse playwrights of color can be!
For Asian-American women interested in telling their stories in the theater, what advice would you give?
Try to go out and see a lot of different shows. It really teaches you about what works on stage and what doesn't. A play is very different than a book or short story, and it helps to see it visually unfold before you rather than just reading it on the page. Or even better, try to help make theater by volunteering with a local group. Just knowing how it all comes together backstage and helping to be a part of that magical process is one of the biggest inspirations for writing plays.